President’s Letter – January 17, 2018

“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.”- Yoda
That is one of my favorite quotes. However, The Force was not with me last Friday! By that time, the full impact of the mudslide on Montecito was realized and the nice folks at the bottom of Ortega Hill and Sheffield admired my effort but could not acquiesce to my wish to pass. Anyway, Bill Dutton did the Seargent-at- Arms duty, Dan Aldrich handled the invocation and Kathleen tells me there were fines that she doesn’t remember- so I say fine Kathleen! Our program was informative, considering the relevancy of the topic.

There is also time to become more familiar with our District 5240 website and the amazing resources for all of the clubs in our district. Y’all should check it out!

Lucky and I did find a way to get into the eastern side of Montecito on foot (or paw.) We saw some amazing destruction- and an army of heavy equipment and people scrambling to open collection basins and paths of flow for the next rain. My father the geologist explained the force of the fluid that caused the destruction; each gallon may weigh up to five times a gallon of clear water, flows much faster than clear water as it is pushed along by more muck and cannot be stopped until the accumulated force is dissipated, or something like that. Wow.

Our program this week is a site visit to Direct Relief in Goleta, hosted by our own Dean Axelrod. We have become well familiar with this organization as it was first to respond with breathing masks during the Thomas Fire and aid during the aftermath of the mudslide. Our programs couldn’t be more timely. I’m hoping to make like a sardine and squeeze onto the train!